Lawyer Network News

Saskatchewan Lawyer News

Passport cancellation for any Canadian proven to have joined extremist groups

Posted Sep 20, 2014 on ottawacitizen.com

Several Canadians have had their passports invalidated by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) after it was proven that they have gone to Syria, Iraq and other volatile areas to join extremists groups.

This was confirmed by Chris Alexander, the minister for Citizenship and Immigration, who added that Canadians, who are still in the country but are proven to have intentions of travelling abroad to fight for extremist groups, will also get their passports cancelled.

The move is part of Canada and its allies' plans to hamper the international operations of extremist groups such as the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

With a revoked passport, Canadians fighting for extremist groups will be stuck in either Syria or Iraq as they will no longer be allowed to travel back to Canada. They could also not go anywhere else without a passport.

Although Canada may not be a major source of foreign fighters for extremist groups, the Canadian government has given the concern priority, with the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service heading the matter.

The CIC, to which Passport Canada belongs, has been active in the operation by cancelling the passports but only after they received solid evidence.

Alexander said that the department can do so based on a regulation that allows an official to invalidate the passport of a Canadian if there is proof that their intention of travelling abroad is to participate in a criminal act.

A new citizenship law also gave the government authority to cancel the passports of dual citizens following a terrorism conviction.

This is well and good as aside from ensuring the country's security, the government is also making sure that Canada's name will not be tainted by the acts of these people.

Man convicted of child pornography, faces more charges

Posted Sep 18, 2014 on www.thestarphoenix.com

More charges have been filed against Justin Gryba, who was convicted and sentenced of charges related to child pornography last year.

This after the police was finally able to open his hard drive which had a military-grade encryption.

The new charges he is facing are making and possessing child pornography and voyeurism.

Gryba was a multi-awarded youth volunteer but things changed when a search in his home resulted to the discovery of pornographic materials as well as the hard drive, which police could not open at that time.

He pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child pornography and was handed a less than two-year sentence.

However, the threat of more charges to be filed had always loomed for Gryba as the police had been working hard at breaking open his hard drive which they believed contained more pornographic images.

The hard drive was finally opened in July, prompting the new charges.

Saskatoon defence lawyer Morris Bodnar had said back then that the hard drive was difficult to access and that not even Gryba could open it.

Assault nets young woman a conditional sentence

Posted Sep 10, 2014 on www.leaderpost.com

Rebecca Ness-Saxhaug received a conditional sentence of 10 months after admitting to a common assault charge.

Ness-Saxhaug was part of four people, who went to the house of the victim to try to make him issue an apology for posts he made on the social network, Facebook.

The victim had called one of the four attackers and her daughter hookers on Facebook which prompted the attack just outside the victim's home.

To escape the attack, the victim run inside his house and got tackled by Ness-Saxhaug.

Regina criminal lawyer Corinne Maeder, defending for Ness-Saxhaug, said that her client jumped the victim to prevent him from using a bear spray as his children were also present at that time.

The lawyer also mentioned that Ness-Saxhaug has never had any record of violence prior to the incident and has been trying to address her substance-abuse problem.

Car stunting earns teenager jail stay

Posted Sep 05, 2014 on www.leaderpost.com

Tyler Daniel Pelly was meted with a three-month jail stay to be served during the weekends for inflicting severe injuries on his two friends, who were his passengers when a car stunt he did went wrong.

He also only left after determining that it would be too hard to get his other friend out and only after a call was placed to 911 by the driver of a cab who passed by the incident.

While Judge Anna Crugnale-Reid agreed that the sentence should discourage others from committing the same offence, Pelly's age also made rehabilitation a very important factor in deciding on a sentence.

Pelly is only 18 years old.

Smith facing another charge for violating conditions of his release

Posted Aug 07, 2014 on www.thestarphoenix.com

Taj Smith, wide receiver of the Saskatchewan Roughriders, is facing another charge for allegedly visiting a club in Gatineau, Quebec.

Smith is prohibited from visiting places where alcohol is being served as part of his release conditions for an earlier assault charge that he has been ordered to stand trial in June.

According to allegations, police had seen Smith together with another man inside the club while patrolling the area.

When Smith and his companion left, the police trailed them, then stopped them and arrested Smith.

The Saskatchewan Roughrider player was released on a $2,000 bail and is scheduled to return to court in October.

Smith's defence counsel, Aaron Fox, a criminal lawyer in Regina, stressed that nothing has been proven yet in his client's latest charge.

Canada Lawyer News

Vancouver lawyer overjoyed with decision against marijuana law

Vancouver lawyer Kirk Tousaw is very much pleased with Federal Court Judge Michael Phelan who decided that the law on marijuana is unconstitutional.

In his decision, Phelan said that not allowing medical users in getting marijuana from other than producers who are licensed is a violation of their charter rights.

Tousaw sees the decision as a milestone and a big boost for patients who are using cannabis as medication.

With the decision, the lawyer is urging Canada's Prime Minister to immediately stop criminally sanctioning patients using cannabis as a medicine, as well as those unlicensed providers.

According to Phelan, restricting the access did not lessen the risk to the patients' health nor did it make cannabis more accessible.

The judge, in his decision, called upon the Canadian government to make the marijuana law flexible so as to pave way for patients to grow their own marijuana for medical purposes.

Calgary immigration lawyer asks CBSA to be humane to client

Posted Jan 26, 2016 on www.cbc.ca

Bjorn Harsanyi, an immigration lawyer in Calgary, is asking the Canada Border Service Agency (CBSA) to help his client, Aida Castilla Romero, to return to her native country of Mexico by land.

Romero's work permit has expired and although she is willing to go home, she is afraid to get on a plane because she fears her lungs might collapse due to a rare disease that she has been diagnosed with.

Because of her health condition, Romero's lungs had collapsed a year after she came to Canada to work. While getting treatment, the terms of Romero's work permit ended. She was refused an extension and was denied a refugee status and eventually received a deportation order.

Cautioned by a doctor against flying as it would cause her lungs to collapse again; Romero through Harsanyi asked the CBSA to allow her to go back to Mexico by land. This, however, was denied too.

Harsanyi is appealing for the CBSA to help his client get a visa so she can travel to Mexico by land passing through the US as this is within the agency's capabilities.

There has been no word yet from the CBSA and Romero fears that she would be forced to board a plane when the deportation date arrives, least she would get arrested again which is what happened when her lawyer had informed the CBSA of her growing fears. They had deemed she would not get on her deportation flight.

Defence lawyer to oppose forfeiture of client's bail

Posted Jan 08, 2016 on www.calgarysun.com

Calgary criminal defence lawyer Gavin Wolch is adamant that the Court has no right to hand over the bail money of his convicted client, Nicholas Rasberry, to the Crown.

Rasberry was convicted of manslaughter for stabbing to death Craig Kelloway in May of 2013. The two were drinking before the incident.

Rasberry was originally charged with murder but it was downgraded to manslaughter because the judge found that Rasberry was prompted into killing Kelloway, whom he said tried to sexually assault him.

However, before Rasberry could be sentenced, he had breached one of the conditions of his bail, that is consuming alcohol. He was caught during a Checkstop.

Hersh Wolch, a defence lawyer practicing in Winnipeg, said the forfeiture proceedings should not be allowed because Rasberry was not on bail anymore when the Crown filed the application as he had been sentenced already.

Gavin Wolch wants to get the matter done and over with because he says his client is seeking another bail as he will be appealing the verdict.

High Court decides popular pizza chain can't end franchise

Posted Mar 11, 2015 on www.cbc.ca

The Supreme Court of British Columbia ruled that Domino's Canada cannot end the franchise of a pizza store in North Vancouver based on an unproven accusation.

Domino's Canada had informed the francise operated by Farhad "Alex" Iranmanesh and Keyvan Iranmanesh that it is terminating its contract after conducting its own probe on allegations that the brothers have exploited two of their employees.

Dakota Gervais-Brulhart and Blake Dearman have filed a complaint that they weren't paid and when they did not go to work to protest the wrongdoing, they were assaulted and even received death threats.

The Iranmanesh brothers, however, claimed the allegations are still unproven and they asked for an injunction order to stop Domino's Canada from ending their franchise.

Other employees of the Iranmanesh brothers also denied the claims of the complainant employees.

The judge approved the order saying that Domino's Canada cannot end its contract with the Iranmanesh brothers based on allegations that have not been proven whether true or not.

The disgruntled employees vowed to stick to their claims while Domino's Canada also said it will fight the injunction.